Slow-Cooked Halibut with Garlic Cream and Fennel

When garlic is cooked gently in plenty of fat (in this case, cream), it becomes something else entirely—an elegant shadow of its raw self. Tacky cloves go silky and sultry, warm and welcoming. For this recipe, cod and pollock are both great alternatives for the halibut.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 250°F. Place fennel in a large saucepan wide enough to fit fish comfortably. Add garlic, cream, and 1 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. salt. Place over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until fennel is just tender, 12–15 minutes (do not let cream come to a boil). Remove from heat.

Season fish with remaining 1 tsp. salt. Using tongs, carefully slip fish into pan (it should be mostly covered). Transfer to oven and cook fish, uncovered, until flesh easily flakes with a fork, 18–22 minutes.

While the fish is cooking, finely chop reserved fennel fronds and place in a small bowl (you should have about 1/2 cup). Cut ends off lemon; discard. Place lemon upright on one end and cut lemon into four lobes, working around the center as you would an apple and leaving core and seeds behind. Finely chop lobes (peel and all) and transfer to bowl with fennel fronds. (You should have about 1/3 cup.) Squeeze juice from core over fennel fronds; discard core. Drizzle in oil and toss mixture to combine. Season fennel oil with salt and lots of pepper.

Break fish into large pieces and divide among shallow bowls. Divide garlic and fennel among bowls and ladle some garlic cream on top; spoon fennel oil over.

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Reviews

The timing is way oof in this recipe. The fennel couldn’t become tender after only 15 minutes especially since the cream wasn’t supposed to boil. No way the fish cooked in 18 or 22 minutes at 250. Like someone else said I had to turn up the oven to 350 and even this took time. The cream broth was very good however. Not sure about the fennel oil. It didn’t really add anything. Pretty good overall but I don’t think I’ll make it again. If I do I’ll steam the fennel beforehand.

Using some of the recommendations given before, I made this with some extra garlic and only 2 cups of cream. It was great, but very very pale, so I also served some bulgar pilaf and a green salad. I’ve saved the extra cream to make a sweet potato gratin tomorrow.

This recipe has great promise, but needed some changes. Four cups of cream is too much. Since I am also dairy free, I used a 14oz can of coconut milk (which added an interesting complex flavor) and that was more than enough liquid. If you use cream, maybe only 2 cups or a bit less. After tasting the sauce I upped the garlic from 8 to 12 cloves. I added a teaspoon of anise seeds to up the flavor. And lastly, I couldn't follow the instructions on how to work with the lemon, so I used 1/3 cup of juice and a tablespoon of lemon zest with the olive oil and fennel fronds. Lastly, the fish didn't cook in 18 minutes at 250 - I had to up the oven to 350 for 10 minutes to finish the cooking. With those changes, I served this meal and received rave reviews - subtle and elegant flavors. I'll make this again!